The Upward Path

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social change

Do you belong to the 21st century growth tribe?

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Many hands as leaves on a tree

This is a term that popped into my head the other day. I was pondering ideal clients, niche, etc, as I do every so often.

I’ve always struggled with it, and I know I’d help myself if I were clearer. The thing is, I kind of know who I’m aiming at, even though it’s rather broad and cloudy and – here’s the point – resistant to a short label.

It’s the people who are building the new world, or the new story of the world. The people who are the foam at the edges as the tide comes in.

I keep spotting myself using ’21st century’ as an adjective. It’s a shorthand for the way the world is, with the problems that face us and the trends in society, and for the way we ought to be operating to be in tune with that. So much in society, and particularly in the news, is still running patterns of the late 20th century.

It’s part of what I talk about in my book Crowd/Control, and over at The Upward Path. That idea of living in a time when the human path forks, and we can choose to move into a better potential or a grubby cul-de-sac.

Who are they then?

So, who are the 21st century growth tribe? Creative entrepreneurs, personal development folks like coaches and therapists, thought leaders, social and community enterprises, the ecosystem of creative and ethical microbusinesses, self-realisers, potential uncoverers, compassion leverers, truth tellers, idea makers, tech channellers, crowdsourcers …   [Read more…] about Do you belong to the 21st century growth tribe?

If you want to change the world, stop

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Do you think people are rational decision‑makers?

That is: you put facts in front of them about problems and solutions, have a reasoned debate, persuade them of a different point of view, then they change their position and their behaviour.

Head leaf graphicIf so, you have to let go of that idea.

Seriously. Do you want to make progress? That set of assumptions, conscious or unconscious, will keep you stuck for years.

It’s what we were doing in the environmental movement in the 1990s. Back then we didn’t know any different. Psychology and marketing weren’t mass-accessible in the way they are now.

Here’s the thing. Humans have the capacity to be rational decision-making creatures. But for most of us, most of the time, we’re not. We run on habits, worldviews, prejudices, emotions.

If you’re a person biased toward rational problem-solving, like I am and many of my friends in environmental groups were, this is confusing and frustrating. But no less true.

You still see it all the time. People have presented arguments to a government, company or individual and encountered what seems to be a stubborn refusal to shift. They’re treating it as a debating society, and wondering why it didn’t work.

From that frame of reference the main explanation available is that the other side has not understood – either because they’re stupid or because you haven’t explained it properly. So you try again (and again).

But if you step back you can see that what’s really going on is messy psychology at work, and plugging away in rational explainer mode will never succeed.

I’m not saying you should stop opposing bad things and presenting arguments. It’s important to have that out there where people can see it. It’s important that people doing bad things don’t get it all their own way, and that people inclined to question can see they’re not alone.

But in most cases winning a debate is not the point where friction is stopping you moving forward.

That is rooted in people’s conditioning, personal identity, tribal connections, how they’re used to things being done, what they value, how they suppress those values to fit in socially, and all that sort of stuff.

Welcome to the frontier of the 21st century.

 

Want to read more? This post became the first section of my book Planet of the Bubble People.

 

The upward path – video blog

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It’s an old metaphor. The fork in the road. The point of choice. Do we take the upward path to the world we want to see, or the downward path of fear and short-term convenience?

From personal development work helping individuals to campaigning to influence governments, if you are helping to make things better you are part of the same big picture. And you need to get better at broadcasting your messages over the noise.

 

 

I wanted to ‘nudge’ myself into doing some video work, and I thought the best place to start was with this.

‘The upward path’ started as a bit of a placeholder concept while I was working on other things. But I’ve come to realise it’s a pretty good label for the big picture that is my ‘why’ – and that it’s important to talk about in its own right as part of my own body of messages.

(I’ve also been sharing word-graphics on Twitter under #upwardpath – and Facebook with the tag used less consistently!)

There was a false start with uncooperative technology, and a surprising amount of resistance around being visible, but I think it’s turned out pretty well. Do leave feedback about the content or cinematography in the comments!

 

Social change is a personal development issue

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Storytelling graphicImagine that the world can be different.

Some people will find that easy. Some will find it harder. Some will find it alarming and retreat from it, dropping word grenades to discourage pursuit.

We are psychologically disposed and socially conditioned to have a stable worldview and defend it against conflicting input. “This is the way things are.” When people’s worldviews include the social and political status quo, they avoid or block change.

What can overcome this? Our deeper values, and our sense of empowerment. But many people are disconnected from those. Perhaps they never learned to feel them, or they suppress them because they’ve been taught that it’s more important not to rock the boat.

That, surely, is the territory of personal development. [Read more…] about Social change is a personal development issue